Rays 6, @Yankees 4: Three runs in the 5th (aided by 2 wild pitches) and a typical Price-is-right performance against the Bombers helped Tampa close their gap to 3 games in the division and WC2 races. Curtis Granderson homered in the 5th (just out of his counterpart’s reach) and Alex Rodriguez went deep in the 8th, but each one also made the last out of the other’s home-run inning, with the tying run on 2nd and lead run on 1st.
@Orioles 3, Rays 2 (14): “Words fail / Buildings tumble / The ground opens wide; / Light beams / down from heaven / They stand before my eyes; / They’re actual size, but they seem much bigger to me….” (Apologies to They Might Be Giants.)
Sorry, couldn’t think of any clever title for this one.
Here is a short list of players to compile a most unusual season. In fact, no other players since 1901 have done so.
What are the season accomplishments that only these players have compiled?
Hint: there is a rookie playing this season who is currently on track to join this group.
Congratulations to Nick Pain! He identified that these are the only players since 1901 to have a qualifying season with an extra-base hit total more than 50% larger than their RBI total (i.e. XBH > 1.5 * RBI). Zack Cozart, the Reds rookie shortstop, is on pace to join this group. He is also on pace for the lowest RBI total for any qualifying season with 15+ HR.
Last night, Derek Jeter tied Willie Mays for 11th on the all-time hit list:
1. Pete Rose 4256 2. Ty Cobb+ 4189 3. Hank Aaron 3771 4. Stan Musial 3630 5. Tris Speaker 3514 6. Cap Anson 3435 7. Honus Wagner 3420 8. Carl Yastrzemski 3419 9. Paul Molitor 3319 10. Eddie Collins 3315 11. Derek Jeter 3283 Willie Mays 3283
How high might Jeter finish on the all-time list? Continue reading
Stephen Strasburg was shut down after pitching on September 7. The Nationals are 4-1 since then. This says absolutely nothing about Strasburg.
There’s been plenty of talk about the team’s decision to shut Strasburg down after nearly 160 innings. The dissenting opinion tends to revolve around the idea that the Nationals are much more likely to win the World Series with Strasburg pitching. This is probably true, unless we’re willing to attribute his late-season struggles to incurable fatigue. But just how much worse are the Nationals without Strasburg? Find out after the jump
@Brewers 8, Braves 2: For 4 innings, Paul Maholm had a lead and a tight rhythm: out, on base, out, out. But when Chipper Jones‘s boot broke the pattern, all hell broke loose — an 8-run foam-over that featured both a sac bunt and an RBI double by Yovani Gallardo, who won his 7th straight decision.
Quick – who’s the best defensive 2nd baseman in baseball? Chase Utley? Robinson Cano? Dustin Pedroia? All fine second basemen, to be sure. But, as you’ve probably surmised by the title of this post, one answer to my question is perhaps an unlikely one.
Or, maybe you’re just thinking “Who the heck is Darwin Barney?”.
After the jump, I’ll look a little closer at Mr. Barney’s surprising season.
David Cone’s Perfect Game in 1999
Use a phrase once, it is an article. Use it twice, it’s a series.
Last time, I asked the brilliant commentariat to discuss the late Thurman Munson. wWAR (my system of weighted wins above replacement, based on WAR figures from Baseball-Rederence) placed Munson squarely on the Hall of Fame borderline—without giving him any extra credit at all for how he may have finished his career. Today, I give you another player that wWAR sees as Hall-worthy. In fact, this pitcher clears the hurdle by a substantial margin. I was, to be honest, a little surprised.
It’s David Cone. Continue reading
Taken from the Baseball-Reference.com bullpen, here are a few interesting things that happened in MLB on September 13, 1983.
Makes sense, right? Quisenberry was one of the preeminent closers of the 1980s. On this date in 1983, he saved his 39th save of the season. Thirty ninth! That was all it took for the all-time record!
Now here’s the interesting part. Guess where a 39-save season would rank now. The answer is that it would tie for138th-most in MLB history.
Yes, folks, the way closers are used has changed a lot.
Since that 1983 performance, the only player to top 100 stolen bases in a season was Vince Coleman, and in the last 20 full seasons the highest total is 78, by Jose Reyes in 2007.
One can’t help but wonder when we’ll next see a 100-SB performance in the majors. (Raise your hand if you just thought of Billy Hamilton.) Will we ever again see a guy have 3 such years in a row? I find it hard to believe but I’ll never say never. The game has shifted a lot since the early 1980s, but nothing says it can’t shift back.
Fitzgerald is one of 4 Mets to accomplish the feat:
| Player | Date | Tm | Opp | Rslt | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | WPA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mike Jacobs | 2005-08-21 | NYM | WSN | L 4-7 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.062 |
| Kazuo Matsui | 2004-04-06 | NYM | ATL | W 7-2 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0.268 |
| Mike Fitzgerald | 1983-09-13 | NYM | PHI | W 5-1 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0.106 |
| Benny Ayala | 1974-08-27 | NYM | HOU | W 4-2 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0.093 |
It’s interesting that all 4 of these guys spent very little time with the Mets (Matsui had the most with 3 seasons) and all of them were considered significant disappointments.
For my High Heat Stats debut, I’m continuing a series I started on my personal blog, Left Field, in which I’m naming an all-time team for each of the 30 current MLB franchises, and in the process, offering my opinion as to their greatest eligible player who is not in the Hall of Fame. Continue reading